Grinding machine



Aug. 15, 1939. E. A. Kol-:THER

GRINDING MACHINE Filed July 23, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet'l 'y v (Ittormgs Aug. l5, 1939. E. A.-KOETHER GRINDING MACHINE Filed July 23, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Cittorncgs Patented Aug. 15,1939 r UNITED STATES' PATENT Iori-ICE GnnvDlNG MACHINEl Emil A. Koether, Baltimore,A Md.,'assignor, by mesne assignments, to Koppers Company, a corporation of Delaware Application July 23, 1936, Serial No. 92,259

`12 claims.' (c1. 51-112) This invention relates to machines for grinding the opposed faces of at circular objects such as discsor rings, and is applicable wherever it is necessary to impart to such an article true plane surfaces which are accurately spaced and s in strict parallelism with'each other.

The device is particularly intended for grinding the opposed fiat surfaces of piston rings. Since the invention possesses certain peculiar ado vantages in this field of use, I shall describe it,

. 4as used. in grinding piston rings in order to develop its full utility, but it must be understood that the. invention isapplicable to the face grinding of any article having' opposed parallel flat 15 faces and capable of rotation in the manner hereinafter described. When so used, the device will offer some or all of the advantages which it has in the particular field of piston ring grinding. Heretofore, face grinding machines have been zo proposed and, as a matter of fact, utilized, wherechines of Ithe lsame order, that trouble is experienced with the discs, owing tothe different Speeds of the cutting particles on the face of the disc as one aproaches the outer circumference of the disc and the inner portion of the disc. I

'I'he speed of a cutting par-ticle near the center u of the disc is, of course, much slower than that of a portion gr particle as the periphery ofthe disc is approached, and, consequently, the cutting action of the disc will be quite different in those- -two zones. Due to this variation, the discs wear unevenly and, therefore, even though a. ring which is passed between them has imparted thereto a spinning action, the surface iinishwill reference numerals will be utilized, with the ex- Y not be tha-t which is desired. In other words,

parallelism between. the ground faces would not 45 necessarily exist.

Furthermore, with the construction about to be described, wherein one or both of the grinding members is composed of an annulus and a1disc,l lying in coplanar relation therewith, it is not essigned to sustain the various driving members disc and a` ring-shaped disc, the grinding faces of which lie in a common plane or in coplanar relation, and each of which may be rotated independently of the other in lthe same or reverse direction. A Y

The speed ofthe component elements ofthe grinding members may be controlled, and thereby the wear upon said members may be regulated and the effective grinding action likewise regulated and controlled.

Two embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the annexed drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal horizontal section of the machine with the driving motors for the various grinding elements shown in full;

Fig. 2, a vertical sectional view taken on the line II--lI of Fig. 1, with parts broken away; and Fig, '3, a sectional elevation-of a modified arrangement of the opposed grinding member.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, I0 denotes a base or table provided with suitable ways( Il, I2, extending-longitudinally thereof and adapted to receive the carriages upon which -the grinding members and their driving means are mounted. Inasmuch as these parts are duplicates, the same u ponent a'placed upon those at the left handv side of Fig. 1.

I3 denotes a carriage placed upon the ways I I, .I2 and held in its longitudinal adjusted position by thel clamping elements I4, I5. Extending upwardly from theA carriage and integral therewith is a standard I6, which throughout its upper portion is hollow or cylindrical in form and is defor the grinding elements. Said elements are u denoted by "I'Iand I8, the former being ringshaped or annular and the latter, disc-shaped,

with the grinding faces lying in a common plane. Each of the elements I1, Il, Iii, I8, stand diu rectly opposite each other, as will be readilysee'n upon4 reference to Fig. 1, and are designed to be driven independently in the same or opposite directions, and at the sameor varying speeds.

Located Within and extending throughout the cylindrical portion ofv the stndard I6 is a shaft I9, said shaft adjaccent the grinding elements being formed with a head or face plate'2l to which,', inV turn, there is securedranl annular plate 22 which formi: the support and' backing for the u grinding disc I8,\.the discy and the backing plate 22 being securedl to the.'face plate 2| by suitable machine screws 23, the heads of Vwhich lie within recesses formed within the disc I 8.

- Shaft Il has mounted thereon ball races 2l and u ,suitable manner.

25, the complcmental races therefor being denoted by 26 and 21, respectively, which are housed within a sleeveflike member 28. Balls are, of course,

mounted between the races just referred to, to

form a suitable bearing for the shaft I9 as well as for the sleeve 28. The sleeve is properly supported within the cylindrical member I6 by roller bearings denoted, respectively, by 29 and 3l. The latter is held in place by a ring-shaped element 32 secured to the adjacentY end of the standard I6 and carries at its inner edge a suitable packing 33 to prevent the outflow of lubricant along the reduced portion of the hollow shaft 28. The races 25 and 21 are held in place with reference to the shaft I9 and the hollow shaft 28 by taking against shoulders formed upon said members against which they are held by a ring-shaped member 34 and a ring-shaped cover plate 35 secured to the exposed end of the hollow shaft 28, said member 35 carrying a packing at its inner edge which cooperates with the reduced portion of the shaft I9.

The hollow shaft 28 at that end adjacent the grinding elements is provided with an integrally formed outwardly extending ange or collar 36, to which is secured a face plate 31, and to this,

in turn, is secured a ring-shaped backing plate 38 which forms the support for the ring-shaped grinding element I1. Said element is secured to Said member 38 by suitable cap screws 40.

Shaft I9 has secured to its outer end a pulley 39 with which cooperates a belt 4| driven by a variable speed motor or the like 42, which motor may be adjusted to impart the proper tension to the belt and may be likewise shifted laterally by loosening the retaining bolts 43 (Fig. 2) to compensate for adjustment of the grinding members toward and from each other. The outer end of the hollow shaft 28, which is concentric with the shaft IS, carries a pulley 44 which cooperates with a belt 45 to which motion is imparted from a variable speed motor 46.

By the arrangement above described, the grinding element I1 may be rotated in one or another direction, and the same is true of the'grinding element I8. Furthermore, the speed of either of them may be changed, and either one or the other driven faster, as occasion mayrequire. By having the inner disc member I8 travel at a speed greater than that of the ring-shaped or annular member I1, the speed of grinding may be said to be equalized as between the two. In other words, as set forth at the outset, Where a single disc is employed, the speed of a grinding particle is faster as one approaches the periphery of the disc, whereaswith the present structure, this in sense may be cqu'alized by speeding up the central element I8 or slowing down the ring-shaped element I1.

The elements to be ground or faced may be fed into and between the grinding members in any In the instant case, there is shown a gravity runway, the side plates of which are denoted by H and 48. The runway, at the lower portion thereof, is provided with an inclined supporting track or element 49, the upper face whereof stands in alignment with`.a supporting bar 5I which extends inwardly and between the grinding members. A second bar 52 is located above the parallel with the bar 5|, and said bars form in effect the supporting and positioning means for the elements, such as piston rings which are denoted by 53, as they pass between the grinding members. The bars 5I and 52 may be adjusted toward and from each other by right and left hand screws 54 and 55, the screws being mounted in turn in standards 56 and 51 extending 'upwardly from the base I0 of the machine.

At the discharge end of the barsv 5I and 52 is a pair of spaced plates 58 and 59 (see more particularly Fig. 1)., the plates being adjustably supported upon the outwardly extending end of the bars 5I and 52 by bolts which extend through slots formedin the plates and wing nuts GI mounted upon the outenend of the bolts or screws which pass outwardly through the slots. These may be loosened when it is desired to adjust the sustaining and guide bars 5I, 52 toward` or from each other, according to the diameter of the article to be acted upon by the grinding members. After the desired adjustment has been effected, by the screws, the wing nuts will be turned up, which, of course, will lock all of the parts against further movement.

Instead of employing oppositely disposed grinding members each having two elements, as above described, to wit, as I1 and I8, respectively, the construction shown in Fig. 3 may be employed wherein a Asingle grinding disc 62 is mounted upon a suitable plate 63 which may be driven from a single motor, said disc standing opposite and in parallel relation to a composite grinding element comprising the ring-shaped member E4 and the centrally located disc-1ike grinding element 65, which are the same as the members I1 and I8, heretofore described.

Under both of the arrangements above set forth, a spinning action of the ring to be ground will obtain, which action, of course, is desirable in order to insure parallelism of the ground faces.

It will be'understood that while I have shown and referred to variable` speed electric motors for driving the grinding members, any means may be utilized to effect the desired end.

In a broad sense, one of the two grinding elements of a grinding unit may be looked upon as a means for imparting rotative movement to the article being ground, this in addition to its grinding function. So, too, said elements may have different grinding characteristics, as ne and coarse grain surfaces.

What is claimed is:

1. In a grinding machine, the combination of a nat face grinding member; a second member facing the same, one of said members at least comprising two independent concentrically arranged grinding elements rotatable independently of one another about a common axis; andmean's for -rotating said members and the concentrlcally arranged elements independently of eachother.

2. In a grinding. machine, the combination of a flat face grinding member; a second member facing the same and standingand maintained in parallelism thereto, one of said members at least comprising two independent grinding elements, and one of said elements being rotatable within the other; and means for rotating said members 'independently of each other...

like element and a disc-like element located within said ring-like element, the elfective .grinding faces of said elements being coplanar; means .for supporting and maintaining said elements in such relation; and means for independently rotating said elements about a common axis.

5. A machine as set forth in claim 4 wherein means is provided for rotating' the grinding elements in diverse directions.

6. A machine as set forth in'claim 4,-wherein means is provided for varying the rotative speeds of the elements.

` 7. In a face grinding machine, the combination of two oppositely disposed rotatable grinding members standing in axial alignment; means for rotating the same; and means forming a part of one of said members for imparting a spinning action to an article passing between the oppositely disposed members, said means comprising a third grinding member lying and maintained in a plane common to one .of the other grinding members and independently rotatable about the 8. In a grinding machine, the combination of two oppositely disposed grinding members each rotatable in a fixed plane, and each of said members comprising a plurality of independently rotatable grinding elements, one of said elements being capable of rotation within its companion circumscribing element; and means for rotating said elements independentlyff each other.

9. A machine as set forth in claim 8, wherein the grinding elements have a common axis of rotation.

10. In a grinding machine, the combination of a tlat face grinding member; a second grinding member` standing in spaced relation thereto and facing the same, one of said grinding members at least comprising two independent concentrically arranged 'grinding elements rotatable independently about a common axis; and means for independently rotating said grindinglelements at diilerent speeds. 4

1l. In a grinding machine, the combination of a fiat face rotatable grinding member; a second grinding member standing in spacedl relation thereto and facing the same, said second member comprising a ring-shaped element and a diskshaped element located within the confines of the ring-shaped element, the grinding faces of said Clements lying in a common plane; means for rotating said first named grinding member; and means for independently rotating the elements of the secdnd grinding member at diierent speeds.

12. In a face grinding machine, the combination of two oppositely disposed rotatable face grinding members standing in axial alignment; means for rotating the same; and means for imparting a spinning action to an article' passing between the same, said means comprising a third grinding member lying and maintained in a plane common to one of said face grinding members andindependently rotatable about the same axis, at a speed differing from that of its companion member;

EMIL A. KOETHER 

